By Nathan

    If you want to know more about the Colony of New York, I will tell you. In this report, I will tell you about Henry Hudson, Peter Minuit, Peter Stuyvesant, James, Duke of York and King Charles II, the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War.

    The first people to live in New Netherland (now called New York) were the Algonquian and Iroquois Indians. After Christopher Columbus told people in Europe about America, the people from Europe started to go to America to live there in colonies. The first people from Europe to come to America were Dutch people from a country called the Netherlands. In 1609, a Dutch explorer named Henry Hudson came to the northeastern coast of America. Hudson worked for a Dutch trading company. He was looking for a route in the river that would take him to Asia. In his travels, he went the wrong way and went to a place he named New Netherland.

    In 1624, there was a company called the Dutch West India Company. They sent eighteen families to New Netherland. The city of Albany is in the place where they built Fort Orange. The next year, on Manhattan Island the Dutch settlers began to build a town. The settlers called it New Amsterdam. They named it after one of the cities in the Netherlands. In 1626, Peter Minuit became the colony’s first governor. Minuit bought Manhattan. They traded it with the Indians for knives, beads, and cloth worth about $24 altogether. Cows and horses went with the colonists. The colonists built shops, houses, churches and farms. The Dutch people greeted settlers from different countries and different religions. People moved to New Netherland from England, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Scotland.

     In 1647 in New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant became the second governor. His nickname was “Peg Leg Pete” because one of his legs was wood. New Amsterdam was cleaner and safer because of him. He told the colonists to not let their horses run free, but lead the horses through the streets. He made the first police station. It was called a “rattle watch” because a watchman would shake a large rattle when he saw trouble. Stuyvesant hired men to collect the garbage around town. He built the city’s first post office and hospital built.

    By 1664, the city of New Amsterdam and the colony of New Netherland were doing well.  Business was good.... there were bakeries, taverns, and shops. People in New Netherland were not doing well.   In the 1640s, in New Amsterdam, Swedish settlers started a colony near New Amsterdam. In 1655, the Swedish colony got taken over by Stuyvesant and his army.  Governor Stuyvesant also led wars against Algonquian Indian tribes. These wars hurt the Dutch and the Algonquians. The land that the Indians lived on for hundreds of years was taken over.

   In 1664, James, the Duke of York came to New Netherland to take it away from the Dutch and Stuyvesant. He was sent by his brother,  King Charles II of England.  They renamed New Netherland to New York after James. James let colonists vote to choose their leaders and laws. These rights were taken away in 1686 . New York became part of another colony called the Dominion of New England.  Sir Edmund Andros was put in charge of the Dominion by James. The colonists were not able to vote for their leaders. Andros also said that all the colonists' land belonged England. The people of Dominion  were so angry that a mob chased Andros from the colony.

   In 1691, New York became ruled by the king and queen of England. Some colonies grew quicker then New York. People wanted to live in places other than New York.  Very wealthy men called patrons, were given large areas of land when the Dutch first settled.  To live on the patron's land the colonists had to pay rent. When New York was taken over by the English, they still had to pay rent. The rent was too high for the tenant farmers who worked the land they were often so mad that they rebelled.

    New York kept on having problems in the late 1600s, and throughout the 1700s. England and France both put colonies on North America and they wanted to control the land. The French and their Indian allies attacked an English town, starting a war.  A different war started in New York in 1702 and another in 1744. Farms and homes were destroyed and people were killed. Because of the war, colonists were afraid to come to New York. In 1754, a war between the English and French began.  The English won, the land that the French lived on had to be given up to the English.

    England had to pay a lot of money to buy soldiers, weapons and forts for the war. The English decided to tax the colonists to pay off their war debt. The colonists had to pay tax for paper, it was called the Stamp Act because there had to be a stamp on every paper. The colonists did not like the taxes. The colonists were angry that they had to pay taxes that hadn't voted for.  In October 1765, men from nine colonies met in New York City to talk about the Stamp Act. This was called the Stamp Act Congress. They decided to not buy any things that were from England. The king did not want to lose money so he gave in and he stopped the Stamp Act.

    The king of England put taxes on goods besides paper. He sent soldiers to all the colonies. In April, 1775 fighting started between American militia and British soldiers. This was the start of the Revolutionary War. In New York City the English governor was chased by colonists out of town. The colonists took down a statue of King George III and they made it into 42,000 bullets. In August, 1776 English soldiers and ships captured New York City. After they fought for eight years the colonies won and became the United States of America.  

   The constitution was accepted by New York on July 26, 1788. New York City became the new country's first capital. George Washington was named the first president in 1789 on Wall Street at Federal Hall. He named New York the "Empire State" because he thought that New York would be middle of the American Empire. The state of New York fought the war for many years and the Americans finally won. 

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